


Bus Stop

by larkflower



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: First Meetings, Gen, M/M, Post-Canon, Puzzleshipping, Reunions, kind of??, yuugi is overly dramatic about getting caught in the rain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-11-09 03:50:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11096289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/larkflower/pseuds/larkflower
Summary: Yuugi forgot to bring an umbrella.





	Bus Stop

The weather in Domino’s been hectic recently, changes at the drop of a hat. Pleasant one moment and near-apocalyptic in the next.  

For example, this morning, it was sunny, with not a single cloud in the deep blue sky. Now, rain is falling down in sheets, and Yuugi's stuck with his back pressed against this storefront, trying to take shelter under an overhang that’s at most a few centimeters long. The ground ripples around his leather shoes.

Kaiba will kill him if he's late to this meeting. _Shareholders_ , a phantom-Kaiba hisses in his mind.

For the last meeting - over a children's RPG - Kaiba made him go buy a new suit. Not the no-name, knock-off garbage _you’re_ used to, Kaiba had said, steering him towards the emptier and more gilded half of the department store. When the sales associate printed out his receipt, he stuffed it into his pocket and tried very hard not to look at it.

The pricey suit’s gotten all damp now, a whole month’s worth of rent washed out in the rain. And he never got it tailored. Kaiba’s going to end up killing him anyway.  

Everyone’s emptied out of the streets, fled into nearby apartments, stores, cars. It’s just a lonely gray city and a never-ending cascade of rain. Yuugi wants to take shelter too, but the clock on his phone indicates that he’s edging closer and closer to meeting actual bodily harm today at the hands of Seto Kaiba.

He waits one more minute. The rain seems to come down even harder. It pelts angrily against windows, a whole chorus of clattering noise. White haze rises from the streets.

He takes a deep breath, then another, tries to fill himself with determination, then dashes out into the rain.

It’s worse than it looks – just an absolute torrent of it, crashing down on him. Merciless as it cascades down his face. Ten seconds in and he’s having trouble seeing; water streams into his eyes.

He runs through an intersection, ignores the red walk sign, squints towards his target: the bus stop.

He flails through the downpour, curses under his breath as it grows harder to run. The rain is beating him into the ground; it's hammering against him, really wants to see him wipe out. Even though it's coming up in a few meters, Yuugi thinks he's never going to reach the bus stop because he's got to push his way through so much water. Then he finally gets there and swings his dripping self under the shelter. 

“God,” he sputters, leaning against the steel frame of the bus stop. “This weather is – this weather is awful.” He thinks he might have inhaled some water.

There’s one other man there, sitting calmly. He gives Yuugi an amused look.

Apparently, _he_ checked the weather report, because a clear umbrella leans against his knee. He looks very dry.

Yuugi collapses onto the bench next to him, grimaces at the sharp feeling of metal against soggy clothes against skin. The damn suit clings thickly to him everywhere, while the other guy’s got on a June-appropriate sleeveless tank. Yuugi pushes wet hair out of his eyes and wipes his face. He tries to squeeze water out of his oxford shirt, before realizing that he’s wrinkling it up and making himself look even more like a human disaster.

After a few minutes, they can see foggy yellow lights emerging out of the rain. The bus, finally approaching, coming to take him to Kaiba Corp and a demon’s wrath. The bus driver sees them, waves. The bus skids through a massive puddle.

Then the bus flies past.

“Shit,” Yuugi mutters. Shit. With summer construction, the bus stops at the _next_ intersection. It rumbles down the longest block Yuugi’s ever seen and comes to a stop.

The other man stands up and unfolds his umbrella. Mist obscures the waiting bus. Yuugi pictures Kaiba drowning him in the puddle of water he’s going to bring into the conference room and doesn’t know whether to scream or cry.   

The man lifts up his umbrella. He turns to face Yuugi. “Come on,” he says, and it’s the most beautiful thing Yuugi’s ever heard. “We can share.”

 _We can share_. Yuugi stares at him, dumbstruck.

The man waggles his umbrella a little and begins to look unsure. The bus belches exhaust and blinks red lights under a murky sky.

Yuugi breathes in all the glorious, tinny odor of a rainy day. “Thank you,” he says, and tries not to sound too desperate, like someone who has just been shown that there is _so much beauty in this world._ He steps under the umbrella and savors the sound of rain pattering against nylon.

They walk forward, and even though wind and a continuous spray of water buffets against their legs, and they’re trudging through a veritable flood, not having a wall of water coming down his face is a satisfying relief.  

Even when a great gust of wind threatens to blow the umbrella inside out, the man grips it steadily and tilts it and doesn’t give in. Yuugi is near breathless _because, well, umbrella, miracle_. They’re so safe under the umbrella. The city is becoming a lake around them, and his loafers are sinking deeper with each step, but Yuugi feels warm as they make their way down the very short block. Though he's still entirely drenched. When he nearly trips on a crack in the sidewalk, the man - who's just a few centimeters taller - turns to steady him with his opposite arm. 

Yuugi's even beginning to feel happy when they reach the bus. 

The man lets Yuugi go on first. Yuugi swipes his bus pass and squelches down the aisle and reaches up to grab onto a plastic handle. He turns around to wait for the man. Yuugi can’t keep the smile from spreading across his face when he seems him get on.

The bus is nearly empty, save for one sleeping old man in the back. The man walks over, and even though he’s pretty dry and could sit down comfortably, he chooses to stand a bit away from Yuugi and grabs a bus handle too.  

His amused expression is back as he looks Yuugi over. Yuugi’s suddenly aware that he’s a mess: hair plastered together, clothes heavy with rain, damp skin. A bit of heat rises to his cheeks. In comparison, this man looks perfect: his dry hair edged in red, his sharp eyes, his sleek jawline, his well-defined muscles…

Yuugi’s growing even more flustered, and he’s not sure if it’s because of a small act of kindness or the fact that he’s just noticed that Umbrella Stranger is very good-looking, and _his_ pants are clinging a little to his skin too - the rain did get to part of him, after all.

“Thanks again,” he says, struggling to be casual. The man smiles slightly.  

Yuugi’s dripping onto the floor. Self-consciously, he tries to smooth out his hair a little. Considers everything around them and steels himself.

“Um, it’s nice to meet you,” Yuugi's voice comes out shakier than he had hoped. “What’s your name?” 

“Atem,” the man says. It could be his last name, but Yuugi thinks he knows that it's his first. “And you are?”

There’s this fluttery feeling rising in Yuugi’s stomach, but it’s mixed with something more intense – a kind of nostalgia for rain and Domino City and a stranger standing before him and the gray world flying past them both. It saturates him more heavily than rainwater. Like this is something that matters. The lights of the bus seem overly bright.

“Yuugi Muto,” he says, and Atem nods.

Atem’s gaze shifts to the window. He seems to drift into thought a little. Then he looks back, reaches into his pocket and pulls out a pack of tissues, hands them to Yuugi. “Here. You’re still looking a little damp,” he says.

Yuugi takes one, pats at his face.

This time, Atem keeps looking at Yuugi. Something’s changed in his expression. Yuugi slowly lowers his arm and tries to meet Atem's gaze, and then he can’t bring himself to look away. Atem opens his mouth, says something that can’t be heard because there’s a sudden rush of traffic all around them -

Yuugi really can’t stop smiling.

**Author's Note:**

> got into yu-gi-oh! again recently. realized my deep love for puzzleshipping.
> 
> also i actually got caught in the rain today but no one came to save me, blegh :(
> 
> so instead i sat down and tapped this out. you ever get overly awed by a stranger's small act of kindness? yuugi's 25 here, and everyone's memories have faded away (they'll come back).
> 
> thanks for reading! reach me on [tumblr](http://larkflower.tumblr.com).


End file.
